Archive for July, 2017

More than 400 media professionals and guests filled a CBS Studio Center soundstage on May 4 for Legacy: An Evening of Honor and Prayer. Mastermedia International and The Hollywood Prayer Network (HPN) co-hosted the event, honoring producer Martha Williamson (Touched by An Angel), producer Terry Botwick (Captive), studio exec Merlinda Balmas (Warner Bros.), writers/producers Steve Storm and Christina Lee Storm (DreamWorks Animation), and actors David and Jessica Olyelowo (Selma) as believers living out a legacy of faith and integrity while working in the Hollywood entertainment industries. Their heartfelt acceptance comments were very moving. Everyone on the sound stage prayed together for three issues unique to the journey of Christian media professionals—career, health, and marriage and family. Mastermedia CEO Dan Rupple closed with a stirring prayer to commission everyone present to use the gifts God has given them for positive influence in media.

Trump Bans Transgenders in Military Sparking GOP Backlash

President Trump’s announcement Wednesday that he will ban transgender people from serving in the military in any capacity, reversed an Obama administration decision to allow them to serve openly, but it caught the Pentagon and Capitol Hill off guard, reports the Washington Post. War hero John McCain, the preeminent Republican voice on national security, took a break from battling brain cancer to send this statement: “The President’s tweet … regarding transgender Americans in the military is yet another example of why major policy announcements should not be made via Twitter. … There is no reason to force service members who are able to fight, train, and deploy to leave the military — regardless of their gender identity.” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who is up for reelection in one of the reddest and most socially conservative states in America, agreed. Many other GOP Senators also criticized Trump’s decision and the way it was announced. The Pentagon appeared to be caught off guard and said it would continue to permit transgender people to serve until the White House officially changes the guidelines. However, the American Family Association said they applaud President Trump “for his courageous decision to end the usage of our military for social engineering and political correctness. American families deserve a military that is focused solely on readiness and national defense.”

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has signed a bill directing public schools to allow transgender students to use the restrooms and other facilities which correspond to their gender identity.

Senate Okays Debate, Then Fails to Pass Any Healthcare Bills

The Republicans’ moment of victory on health care didn’t last long. With cancer-stricken John McCain making a stirring speech and casting the decisive procedural vote on Tuesday, President Trump and Mitch McConnell were able to get the health bill out of intensive care and to the Senate floor. But in the vote hours later on the main repeal-and-replace bill—the one that the president and GOP leadership have been pushing so hard—nine Republican senators defected. Then the Republicans failed again Wednesday to pass a repeal-only bill, which Trump favored as a backup but which never had a chance. The U.S. Senate voted 55 to 45 to reject the repealing of Obamacare and the defunding of Planned Parenthood.

Republicans are now considering a “skinny repeal” of Obamacare in hopes of just keeping the repeal process alive. The “skinny repeal” plan would likely eliminate the individual mandate, which requires nearly all Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty, and the employer mandate, which obligates larger companies to provide affordable coverage to their full-time workers. The plan would also get rid of the Obamacare tax on medical device makers. Without the individual mandate, premiums would likely rise — as would the amount the federal government has to shell out in subsidies to help people buy coverage, warns the American Academy of Actuaries.

Congress Strikes Deal on Russia Sanctions Despite Trump Objection

House and Senate negotiators brushed aside White House objections Saturday and reached agreement on a broad sanctions bill that will make it more difficult for President Trump to unilaterally ease or end punitive measures against Moscow. The package punishes Russia for meddling in the U.S. presidential elections and for its military aggression in Ukraine and Syria. The House and Senate negotiators also addressed concerns voiced by American oil and natural gas companies that sanctions specific to Russia’s energy sector could backfire on them to Moscow’s benefit. The bill raises the threshold for when U.S. firms would be prohibited from being part of energy projects that also included Russian businesses. The White House had objected to a key section of the bill that would mandate a congressional review if Trump attempted to ease or end the sanctions. Under the terms of the bill, Trump would be required to send Congress a report explaining why he wants to suspend or terminate a particular set of sanctions. Lawmakers would then have 30 days to decide whether to allow the move or reject it. One day after the House passed legislation 419-3 to enact new sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea — as well as tying President Donald Trump’s hands to remove Russia sanctions — Corker, the Senate foreign relations chairman, said he planned to strip out the North Korea-related portion of the bill.

Trump Reluctantly Recertifies Iran Nuclear Deal

President Trump agreed on Monday to certify again that Iran is complying with an international nuclear agreement that he has strongly criticized, but only after hours of arguing with his top national security advisers. Mr. Trump has repeatedly condemned the deal brokered by President Barack Obama as a dangerous capitulation to Iran, but six months into his presidency he has not abandoned it. The decision on Monday was the second time his administration certified Iran’s compliance, and aides said a frustrated Mr. Trump had told his security team that he would not keep doing so indefinitely. Administration officials announced the certification on Monday evening while emphasizing that they intended to toughen enforcement of the deal, apply new sanctions on Iran for its support of terrorism and other destabilizing activities, and negotiate with European partners to craft a broader strategy to increase pressure on Tehran. Aides said Mr. Trump had insisted on such actions before agreeing to the consensus recommendation of his national security team.

Border Crossers Down Again, Agents Praise Trump

In June, 21,659 people were arrested or turned away at U.S. ports of entry along the Mexican border, according to Department of Homeland Security statistics. That’s slightly higher than May but less than half the number from June 2016. June marked the fifth consecutive month that the numbers were markedly lower than in 2016. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said that decline reflected an overall reduced flow of illegal immigrants across the border. Kelly credited Trump’s executive orders such as those expanding the powers of federal immigration officials to arrest undocumented immigrants. The head of the union representing more than 16,000 U.S. Border Patrol agents says there is sky-high morale at the agency thanks to the Trump administration.

Although courts have turned aside some of Trump’s orders, Kelly said tightened border security has driven up the fees charged by human smugglers. Since November 2016, “coyotes” who lead immigrants across the border have more than doubled their prices in some areas: $8,000 from $3,500 in certain mountainous regions. be curbing immigration enthusiasm. At least nine people died after being crammed into the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer found parked outside a Walmart in the midsummer Texas heat, authorities said Sunday in what they described as an immigrant-smuggling attempt gone wrong.

Judge Allows Collection of Voter Data

A federal judge in DC declined to block President Donald Trump’s voter integrity commission from collecting data on voters from 50 states in a ruling on Monday, handing a win to an administration inundated by lawsuits over the commission’s request. The commission’s vice chairman, Kris Kobach, sent a letter to all 50 states requesting a slew of voter roll data in late June. Kobach said he was only asking for what was publicly available under the laws of each state, but the request nevertheless triggered rapid-fire litigation in federal courts, including a suit by a privacy rights group in which claimed the commission had failed to comply with federal law and the request violated constitutionally-protected privacy rights. U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly concluded Monday that the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) did not have standing to sue on all of its claims under existing case law. The judge further concluded that the White House Information Technology office — now tasked with collecting the voter roll information on behalf of the commission — is not an independent “agency” for purposes of the federal statues EPIC sought to rely upon, and therefore, a federal court “cannot presently exert judicial review over the collection process.”

Fact Checkers Feud Over Number of Noncitizens Who Voted Illegally

A right-leaning fact-checker is fighting critics on the left who say its conclusion that a lot of noncitizens vote illegally is bunk, reports the Washington Times. The online battle of debunking and rebuttal is playing out as a much larger war has erupted between President Trump’s commission on election integrity and Democratic state leaders. They are refusing to provide the panel with public voter registration data. Left-wing groups are suing to stop the commission’s work, which could settle the noncitizen debate by collecting enough data. In the fact-check standoff, there is Just Facts, a small New Jersey firm of conservative and libertarian scholars who promote what they say is solid independent research. Just Facts President James D. Agresti issued a blockbuster report in June. Using previous research, polling data and Census Bureau figures, his team concluded that as few as 594,000 noncitizens or as many as 5.7 million voted in the 2008 presidential election. If accurate on the high side, it would vindicate Mr. Trump’s contention that a lot of illegal ballots were cast in his race for the White House last year with Democrat Hillary Clinton. Challenging Mr. Agresti are fact-checkers PolitiFact and Snopes.com and left-leaning news sites such as HuffPost.

com is reportedly on the verge of financial collapse since one if its founders has been accused of using company cash to fund his contentious divorce and to pay for fancy vacations with his new wife, a former escort and porn actress, reports WorldNetDaily.

Women Drawn to ISIS Husbands Abused Say Escapees

Foreign women who flocked to the “Islamic caliphate,” were drawn by the promise that they could start a new life with strong, devout men. They say what they found there was something entirely different — fighting in all female dorms, sex obsessed ISIS fighters, some being divorced and remarried as many as six times, reports CNN. In the scorching heat of the Syrian desert, dozens of runaway ISIS brides sit in a crowded concrete jail and wait with their children. The women are segregated from the rest of a sprawling refugee camp in Ain Issa, around 30 miles (50 km) north of ISIS’ de facto capital, Raqqa. All insist they were shocked and appalled when they learned what ISIS was really like. Now they are stuck between the militants’ crumbling stronghold and home countries that most likely don’t want them back.

A’s on the Rise for HS Seniors, But SATs Down

Recent findings show that the proportion of high school seniors graduating with an A average — that includes an A-minus or A-plus — has grown sharply over the past generation, even as average SAT scores have fallen. In 1998, A averages represented 38.9% of all seniors. By last year, it had grown to 47%. Meanwhile, their average SAT score fell from 1,026 to 1,002 on a 1,600-point scale — suggesting that those A’s on report cards do not represent increased learning. Examining the academic transcripts of high school graduates in the 18-year period from 1998 to 2016, they found that the average grade point average rose from 3.27 to 3.38, even as the average SAT score dropped.

Schools are being measured on performance, so now they juice the numbers

Youth Becoming Desensitized to Violence

The cellphone video taken by a group of teens while they watched a man drowning in a Cocoa pond in Melbourne, Florida — and not only did nothing to help him, but laughed at him — has shocked many around the world. The five teenagers who taunted the drowning man while recording his death may face criminal charges, the police chief said Friday. Vicki Panaccione, a Melbourne psychologist who works with children and families, said she has noticed a trend of people becoming “desensitized about what’s going on in the world because of everything they’re exposed to. It can almost be overwhelming. Kids are being bombarded with all kinds of violence and aggression.” That includes everything from violent video games and movies, to news media reports of mass shootings. “In general, we’re just getting too used to all of the horrible things that are happening in the world,” Panaccione said. “It just becomes a ho-hum experience.” There was also the recent court case of a girl who encouraged her boyfriend to commit suicide by text, which the boy’s family discovered on his phone.

Contaminants in Water Pose Health risks, but are Legal

Contaminants detected in water samples throughout the country pose health risks but are perfectly legal under the Safe Drinking Water Act, a new report released Wednesday finds. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) collected data from drinking water tests conducted from 2010 to 2015 at more than 48,000 water facilities throughout the U.S. and found 267 contaminants present in water supplies, many at levels above what scientific studies have found pose health risks. If you decide to drink tap water, — it’s surprisingly fine to do so in some cases — the EWG recommends using a filter. EWG’s findings: 93 of the contaminants were linked to an increased risk of cancer; 78 were associated with brain and nervous system damage; 63 were connected to developmental harm in children or fetuses; 38 were contaminants that could cause fertility issues; and 45 were endocrine disruptors. Details are available in an EWG database.

First U.S. Company Offers Microchip Implants to Employees

A Wisconsin company called Three Square Market is going to offer employees implantable chips to open doors, buy snacks, log in to computers, and use office equipment like copy machines. Participating employees will have the chips, which use near field communication (NFC) technology, implanted between their thumb and forefinger. It’s an extension of the long-running implantable RFID chip business, based on a partnership with Swedish company Biohax International. The vending kiosk company, also known as 32M, will “chip” employees at a party on August 1st. Around 50 people are supposedly getting the optional implants.

An early indicator of how the ‘mark of the beast’ is to be implemented in the near future (see Revelation 13:16-17 and 14:11)

U.S. Debt at Record Levels

Total government debt plus total personal debt in the United States has blown past the 41 trillion-dollar mark, reports 720Global. When you break that down, it comes to $329,961.34 per household, and that figure represents 584 percent of median household income. In 1980, total government debt plus total personal debt in the United States was just over 3 trillion dollars. That breaks down to $38,552 per household, which represented 79 percent of median household income at the time. These figures don’t even include corporate debt. They only include government debt on the federal, state and local levels, and all forms of personal debt.

The debt load is staggering, which will eventually bring about the world’s worst depression ever, as prophesied in Revelation 6:5-6

Economic News

The Federal Reserve held its key short-term interest rate steady Wednesday but signaled that it likely will begin shrinking its $4.5 trillion asset portfolio in September in an initiative that will nudge long-term rates higher. The central bank continues to grapple with both low 4.4% unemployment and persistently weak inflation — signs of an economy that has largely healed since the Great Recession but is still constrained by its aftereffects.

Orders for long-lasting U.S. factory goods posted the biggest gain in nearly three years last month, pulled up by a surge in orders for civilian aircraft. The Commerce Department says orders for durable goods — which are meant to last at least three years — climbed 6.5% in June, reversing two straight monthly drops. But the bulk of the increase came from a 131.2% surge in orders for civilian aircraft, a volatile category. Excluding transportation equipment, orders were up just 0.2%.

U.S. home resales volumes fell more than expected in June as a dearth of properties pushed house prices to a record high. The National Association of Realtors said on Monday existing home sales dropped 1.8 percent from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.52 million units last month. However, sales were up 0.7 percent from June 2016. An acute shortage of properties has hampered monthly sales. The shortage of properties has led to bidding wars, which have culminated in house price increases outpacing wage gains. Last month, the number of homes on the market slipped 0.5 percent to 1.96 million units. Supply was down 7.1 percent from a year ago.

Self-checkout machines were only the beginning of replacing human workers with machines at retail stores. The U.S. economy has lost about 71,000 retail jobs since the beginning of the year as routine tasks become automated and thousands of stores close because of competition from e-commerce companies like Amazon. Nearly 16 million people, or 11 percent of non-farm U.S. jobs, are in the retail industry, making it bigger than the factory sector, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The average price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline rose about a penny nationally over the past two weeks, to $2.32. The slight increase comes after 11 weeks of decline. The current price is about 10 cents above where it was a year ago. Gas in Reno, Nevada, was the most expensive in the contiguous United States at an average of $2.99 a gallon. The cheapest was in Jackson, Mississippi, at $1.97 a gallon. The U.S. average diesel price is $2.51, the same as it was two weeks ago.

Sales of organic food hit a record $43 billion last year, up 8.4% from the previous year, according to the Organic Trade Association, much higher than the 0.6% growth rate in the overall food category. But organics still have a long way to go, representing just 5.3% of total retail food sales in the U.S.

North Korea

U.S. officials believe that North Korea will be able to launch a reliable nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by early 2018, a U.S. official familiar with the latest intelligence assessment confirmed to CNN Wednesday. That would be an acceleration of two years from previous estimates that put Pyongyang three to five years from fully developing long-range missile capabilities. The official clarified to CNN that while North Korea can currently get a missile “off the ground,” there are still a lot of variables about guidance, re-entry and the ability to hit a specific target that North Korea still has to surmount. The Washington Post confirmed that the U.S. intelligence community’s latest assessment concludes Pyongyang will have a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile as early as next year.

Middle East

Palestinian worshipers and Israeli police clashed last Friday outside the Old City of Jerusalem amid tensions over Israeli authorities’ decision to bar male worshipers under 50 from entering the area for Friday prayers. The unrest erupted outside Herod’s Gate as Israeli police stopped younger men from entering the Old City of Jerusalem and Temple Mount, also known as the Noble Sanctuary, allowing only male worshipers aged 50 and over and women to go through. The restrictions were imposed after a fatal shooting last week. Israeli police forcefully pushed worshipers back and pointed their weapons at them. The officers then fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the worshipers and move them back. Also, two Israeli police officers were killed in a shooting by the Lions’ Gate in the Old City walls.

Following a tense morning, which saw thousands of Moslem residents gathering outside the entrances to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City but refusing to enter through the metal detectors placed there following last Friday’s shooting attack that killed two Israel police officers, Moslem prayers were held in the streets and open spaces near the Mount. Shortly after they ended, violent riots erupted near Lions Gate and some neighborhoods of eastern Jerusalem, as some Islamic leaders urged their followers to revolt while others counseled patience. Violence continued over the weekend, including a terror attack in a Jewish community north of Jerusalem in which three Israelis were stabbed to death in their living room and clashes between Palestinian rioters and Israeli police resulted in several casualties on both sides. On Monday morning, the violence spread to Amman, Jordan, where a security officer for the Israeli Embassy was stabbed by a Jordanian man who was there to do some manual work at the facility.

The Islamist terror militia Hamas declared itself outraged Wednesday following a decision by the EU Court of Justice to keep it on a terrorist blacklist, calling for a “day of rage” this coming Friday to protest against the “injustice” of the decision. A Hamas statement also pointed out the installation of cameras on the Temple Mount by Israeli security forces as an example of gratuitous “oppression” and called on Palestinians to rise up and demonstrate their unwillingness to be subjected to such demeaning oppression.

Islamic State

The Islamic State is struggling to mount an effective defense of the Syrian city of Raqqa, its headquarters, as local forces make rapid headway in ousting the militants, the U.S. military said. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said they have captured 40% of the city since June 6, when a ground assault began. “We don’t see any significant counterattacks,” said Air Force Maj. Gen. Dirk Smith, a deputy commander of the U.S.-led coalition, “I’d characterize them in disarray.” Since this month’s recapture of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, from the Islamic State, Raqqa has become the main focus of the fight against the Islamic militants.

Iraq

The massive effort to drive the Islamic State from what had been Iraq’s second-largest city is now being matched by an enormous challenge to bring an ancient metropolis back to life from near total ruin. Much of the historic Old City in western Mosul has been reduced to rubble, with corpses rotting on the streets or buried under debris. Unexploded bombs and booby traps litter the terrain, as Islamic State guerrillas continue sniper attacks. And hundreds of thousands of former residents who fled remain in limbo. Rebuilding after the nine-month offensive that ended in July will take years and billions of dollars, but the priority now is to make the city safe enough for residents to return. That means hunting down Islamic State stragglers, removing thousands of bodies and locating all the bombs that could still go off. Damage is far more extensive in western Mosul, where the prolonged fighting and airstrikes were more fierce. In contrast, reconstruction in Mosul’s eastern half across the Tigris River has been ongoing since January. A large proportion of buildings there remained intact.

Syria

Three of the leading international powers involved in Syria’s war—the U.S., Russia and Iran—are looking to expand and fortify their military presence in the country by building and upgrading foreign bases, with some already in the works. U.S. special operations forces have been involved in Syria for years, and the U.S. appears to be broadening the platforms from which it operates. Earlier this month, satellite imagery showed what appeared to be the construction of a new airstrip near Syria’s southern border with Jordan and Iraq, according to The Daily Beast. This base, along with other ‘temporary’ installations, reportedly could be used to both battle the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) and bolster forces of the rebel Free Syrian Army in areas where fighters supportive of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are poised to take over. Meanwhile, Assad allies Russia and Iran have announced plans to develop their own military presence in the country.

Iran

The Trump administration Wednesday continued its sharp criticism of Iran, labeling Tehran the world’s top government sponsor of terrorism. In a new report, the State Department said terrorist attacks and deaths from terrorism declined worldwide last year. The Islamic State militant group remained the most active “nonstate” perpetrator, the report said, despite having suffered a significant loss of territory. The document, formally titled Country Reports on Terrorism 2016, is issued annually under congressional mandate. A section on state sponsors of terrorism highlights Iran, its arming of the Hezbollah organization in Lebanon and anti-Israel groups like Hamas, plus its support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, whom the U.S. accuses of committing numerous atrocities against his citizenry.

Afganistan

A suicide bomber rammed his car packed with explosives into a bus carrying government employees in the Afghan capital early on Monday, killing 31 people and wounding 42 others, Kabul’s police chief spokesman said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault. The attack took place in a western Kabul neighborhood where several prominent politicians reside and at rush hour, as residents were heading to work and students were on their way to a nearby private high school. The bus was completely destroyed, along with three other cars and several shops in the area. The minibus was carrying employees of the mines and petroleum ministry. It is the latest in a string of attacks in recent days by the Taliban, which said it had captured two districts in northern and central Afghanistan at the weekend.

A U.S. airstrike targeting Afghan militants Friday in restive Helmand province instead killed 16 Afghan police officers, U.S. and Afghan officials said. Two others were injured. The friendly fire incident, now under investigation, happened during a US-supported Afghan National Defense and Security Forces operation that aimed to go after militants in Gereshk district, US Forces-Afghanistan said.

Africa

Thousands in South Sudan are starving as the country faces a massive hunger crisis. The United Nations released estimates in February, saying that 100,000 South Sudanese were starving and that 5 million more people, or about 42 percent of the population, have limited access to food. The U.N. has declared parts of the country in famine and also said that Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen will also suffer mass death from water and food shortages without “prompt and sustained humanitarian intervention.” The hunger problems were caused by the wars in the countries and not by droughts or crop failures, according to a report from Vox. In Nigeria, for example, Boko Haram has forced millions from their homes, including farmers. Many of the country’s agricultural systems have been casualties of the fighting, and the U.N. now estimates that some 4.8 million people are in need of food assistance. In Somalia, more than 6 million people need food assistance, but the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab makes it hard for groups to bring in aid. In Yemen, about 7 million people need food help, but war between the government and the Houthi rebels has stopped food shipments.

Venezuela

Thousands of Venezuelans are rallying for a second day Thursday against President Nicolas Maduro’s regime as it prepares for a national vote next week. Hours after a national strike gripped Venezuela on Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it is slapping sanctions against 13 Venezuelan government officials. “As President Trump has made clear, the United States will not ignore the Maduro regime’s ongoing efforts to undermine democracy, freedom and the rule of law,” Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said in a statement. The sanctions come ahead of the planned July 30, 2017, election orchestrated by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of a National Constituent Assembly that will have the power to rewrite the Venezuelan constitution and may choose to dissolve Venezuelan state institutions.

Mexico

Members of Mexican cartels are flocking to a new Mexican folk religion, and it puts a dark spin on Christianity. The religion involves devotion to La Santa Muerte, which translates to “Holy Death” or “Saint Death,” and can even include human sacrifice, reported Fox News. The popularity of the religion among drug traffickers and violent criminals in Central Texas has raised concern among authorities, prompting Texas officials and the Catholic Church to warn about the dangers of the dark creed. An FBI bulletin written by Robert J. Bunker, an academic and adviser to the government on security matters, noted the rise of the “criminalized and dark variant” of the Christian religion, pointing to many of its negative implications, which include “inspired and ritualistic killings.” The bulletin said those who worship La Santa Muerte, who is depicted as a robed skeleton carrying a scythe in one hand and a globe or scales in the other, can partake of various forms of sacrifice that include the “ritual murder and butchering of humans.”

Earthquakes

A massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck between Russia and Alaska Monday evening, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The earthquake occurred at 7:34 p.m. EDT approximately 124 miles east-southeast of Nikol’skoye, Russia, off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, at a depth of 7.3 miles. This quake was followed by several aftershocks, some of which were greater than 5.0 magnitude. A tsunami of 0.3 feet (3.6 inches) above the tide level was observed on Shemya Island, Alaska, in the Aleutian Islands. This is currently the second strongest earthquake of 2017. A 7.9 magnitude quake in Papua New Guinea on Jan. 22.

The 6.7 magnitude quake killed two and injured at least 358 people. The epicenter was 6.2 miles south-southeast of the city of Bodrum, and the temblor hit at a depth of roughly 6.2 miles. The two victims were tourists from Sweden and Turkey who were visiting the Greek island of Kos. Thirteen others were airlifted to hospitals in Athens, as well as Rhodes and Crete islands, because of serious injuries.

Wildfires

Authorities in a western Montana county have ordered residents to evacuate their homes as a wildfire approaches. about 60 homes and other structures in the Sunrise Creek and Quartz Flats areas are under siege from the Sunrise fire, which is burning 11 miles southeast of Superior in the Lolo National Park. The lightning-sparked blaze started July 16 and has grown to more than 4 square miles. Given some of the driest conditions in decades and with no forecasted moisture any time soon, containment of this fire won’t occur until around the end of fire season, forest officials say.

Wildfires tearing through a dry Mediterranean forest have prompted authorities to evacuate some 12,000 people from three popular tourist destinations in the Var region of the French Riviera. The fires started Monday in the La Londe-Les-Maures forest. Another fire started Tuesday night near Bormes-les-Mimosas and quickly grew to more than 3 square miles. More than 540 firefighters are battling this latest blaze. Nine have been injured. On Monday, smaller, scattered evacuations were ordered as other fires threatened parts of Saint-Tropez

Weather

For the first time in 11 years, Lake Tahoe is nearing capacity thanks to snow melt coming off of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The lake level peaked at 6,229 feet on July 9, coming extremely close to its full capacity level of 6,229.1, which hasn’t been reached in over a decade. Lake Tahoe was filled to the brim by melting snow pouring down from the Sierras, which filled the waterway with more than 12 billion gallons of water. During the winter, the area was buffeted with snow piled so high that ski resorts had to be shut down in January. More than 10 feet of snow fell in the Sierra over the course of a week.

Last week, heavy rain in the Upper Midwest overnight Friday triggered widespread flash flooding that has prompted evacuations and washed out roads and bridges. From Wisconsin to Iowa, rain that measured up to 10 inches in some areas led to more than 40 reports of flash flooding. Early Friday evening, a severe thunderstorm with destructive winds over 70 mph moved through Elk Grove Village, Illinois, uprooting large trees throughout the village adjacent to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago’s northwest suburbs. Officials in a New York town declared a state of emergency after at least three tornadoes left behind damage Thursday. Severe thunderstorms struck parts of the Northeast Monday, causing damage to buildings and downing large trees and power lines, knocking out power to thousands in Syracuse. Large trees were downed across the area.

A massive storm wreaked havoc on New Zealand’s South Island, prompting states of emergency and the mobilization of troops to help those affected by the storms. a state of emergency was declared Saturday in the South Island cities of Christchurch, Otago, Timaru and Dunedin. The Guardian reports that those cities were only accessible by air afterwards. In Christchurch, the Heathcote River burst its banks and flooded parts of the city, prompting the New Zealand Defence Force to deploy troops to help with numerous evacuations. In addition to flooding, landslides have been reported.

At least 48 people died over the past week after heavy monsoon rains lashed western India, including the desert state of Rajasthan, and officials said 24,000 villagers evacuated to higher ground.

Drought-stricken Nairobi, Kenya, has been rationing water since January, and officials fear supplies may run dry by September. Some 3.1 million residents are threatened by this lack of water, brought on by a combination of heat, arid conditions and meager rainy seasons. Currently, 60 percent of the city’s population is without reliable water.

Christians Overtake Muslims As Largest Group of Refugees Entering U.S.

Christians made up the majority of refugees admitted to the U.S. in the first five full months of the Trump administration, reversing a trend that saw Muslims entering the country at higher numbers under President Obama, a new Pew Research report shows. Out of all the refugees who arrived between President Trump’s inauguration and June 30, about half were Christians and 38 percent were Muslims. The monthly data show a steady decline in Muslim refugees, from about 50 percent of total refugees in February to 31 percent in June. In the wake of Trump’s executive orders restricting travel to the U.S. from seven — and under the revised travel ban, six — Muslim-majority countries, the report said, “the religious affiliation of refugees has come under scrutiny.”

The left-leaning Southern Poverty Law Center has come under fire for its labeling of a Christian nonprofit organization — dedicated to defending “religious freedom, sanctity of life, and marriage and family” — as a hate group. But the Alliance Defending Freedom isn’t the only conservative, traditional-value organization the SPLC smears as a hate group. Fox News found at least six other groups that are conservative and explicitly nonviolent but branded as hate organizations by the SPLC. The SPLC – based in Montgomery, Ala. – is a nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation, dedicated to “fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society.” The SPLC labels these socially conservative organizations as hate groups because of their views on LGBT issues. On June 11, Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave a speech to members of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a religious freedom group, prompting some media outlets, like ABC and NBC News, to also label the ADF a “hate group” following SPLC’s lead.

United Nations Says Educated People Threaten Sustainability

Senior leaders of the United Nations gathered recently to continue plotting the future of globalized pseudo-education, which they said must be imposed on every child on the planet to advance the UN’s radical plan for humanity known as Agenda 2030, reports Technocracy News. The UN’s controversial agenda, also dubbed the “Sustainable Development Goals” or SDGs, is basically a recipe for global government, technocracy, and socialism. The whole program, and especially the education component, is being justified under the guise of imposing “sustainable development” on the world.Tthe UN has made clear that more education is actually a threat to sustainability. “Generally, more highly educated people, who have higher incomes, consume more resources than poorly educated people, who tend to have lower incomes,” explains a UN “toolkit” for global, sustainable education, posted online at UNESCO’s website. “In this case, more education increases the threat to sustainability,” notes the toolkit.

The dumbing-down of education continues on its end-time path toward a one-world government overseen by the anti-Christ (Revelation 13)

White House Prayer Meeting Trashed by Media

Tuesday’s release of photos which shows leading evangelicals laying hands on and praying for the President Trump in the Oval Office touched off an angry backlash on Twitter and in the mainstream media. CNN immediately tied the meeting to reports the administration has become unhinged following the latest allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Those in attendance at the Oval Office meeting on Monday, however, reported the president was confident, collected, and in total control of his administration’s agenda. Others suggested that the image symbolized a dangerous erosion in the separation of church and state. The faith-leaders were in the White House for an all-day meeting on policy that did not involve the president. “The president got wind that we were there and insisted that we come say hi,” explained Johnnie Moore, author and evangelical leader.

Republicans Release Their Revised Healthcare Bill

Senate Republicans Thursday released a revised version of their plan to replace Obamacare — dumping some tax cuts for the wealthy, allowing for more insurance policies with limited coverage and increasing funding to fight the opioid addiction epidemic. But on Saturday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell R-Ky announced Saturday that he was delaying consideration of health care legislation in light of Sen. John McCain’s absence due to recent surgery. Surgeons in Phoenix removed a blood clot from above McCain’s left eye on Friday. The 80-year-old Senate veteran was advised by doctors to remain in Arizona next week, his office said. Without McCain’s support, the bill most likely would not be passed. All the Democrats and the two Independents oppose the measure.

Under the revised plan, consumers could buy more bare-bones health insurance for less money under an amendment to the latest version Senate health plan, but insurers warn the change could cause premiums for older Americans and those with pre-existing conditions to skyrocket. It’s unclear whether the changes are enough to win over moderates concerned that the bill’s cuts to Medicaid and private insurance subsidies will leave millions without care, or whether conservatives are satisfied the bill would repeal enough of the Affordable Care Act’s taxes and regulations. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had to scrap a planned Senate vote at the end of June because he could not round up the 50 Republican votes he needs to advance the legislation. The nation’s governors, gathered for their annual summer meeting, came out strongly on Friday against the new Senate bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, turning up the pressure on Republican leaders struggling to round up the votes to pass the bill next week.

Federal Judge in Hawaii Expands Family Ties in Trump Travel Ban

A federal judge in Hawaii on Thursday expanded the list of “bona fide” family relationships needed by people seeking new visas from six majority Muslim countries to avoid President Trump’s travel ban. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson ordered the U.S. not to enforce the travel ban on grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins of people in the U.S. “Common sense, for instance, dictates that close family members be defined to include grandparents,” Watson said in his ruling. The travel ban affects those trying to enter the U.S. from Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Iran and Yemen. Last month, the Supreme Court exempted visa applicants from the ban if they could prove a “bona fide” relationship with a U.S. citizen or entity. The White House had previously said the ban would not apply to citizens of six countries with a parent, spouse, fiancé, son, daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, or sibling already in the U.S. The Trump administration late Friday appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme Court saying that it, “empties the court’s decision of meaning, as it encompasses not just ‘close’ family members.”

Trump Ramps Up Military Operations in Reversal of Campaign Rhetoric

In the first six months of President Donald Trump’s tenure, the US has ramped up military operations in trouble spots across the globe and is preparing to do more. The intensified military engagement stretches from Europe through Africa and the Middle East to South Asia, and marks a striking contrast to the vision of “America First” retrenchment that Trump presented as a candidate. Some of these increases were initiated under President Barack Obama, but Trump has continued and in many cases boosted them. The U.S. has established a more robust and active military presence in Somalia, Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan and is poised to become more engaged in Libya. It has sent more troops to Europe and aims to boost military spending there. In Asia, Trump is considering responses to North Korea’s aggressive pursuit of nuclear weapons and missile capabilities that include military options.

Congressional Republicans are urging President Trump to eliminate nine national monuments, including Bears Ears in Utah, and to shrink 14 others — even as hundreds of thousands of public commenters call for him to keep those monuments in place. Seventeen House Republicans called for those changes in a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Among the monuments targeted for elimination are Berryessa Snow Mountain in California, Grand Canyon-Parashant in Arizona, Katahdin Woods and Waters in Maine and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah. There’s also Bears Ears, which comprises 1.35 million acres of sacred tribal land that President Barack Obama protected a few weeks before leaving office, infuriating Utah’s congressional delegation. “No one person should be able to unilaterally lock-up millions of acres of public land from multiple-use with the stroke of a pen. Local stakeholders deserve to have a voice on public land-use decisions that impact their livelihoods,” the 17 House Republicans wrote in their letter to Zinke. The 23 land and marine monuments were all designated by Presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton.

Trump’s Poll Numbers Declining

President Trump’s standing with the American people has deteriorated since the spring, buffeted by perceptions of a decline in U.S. leadership abroad, a stalled presidential agenda at home and an unpopular Republican health-care bill, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Approaching six months in office, Trump’s overall approval rating has dropped to 36 percent from 42 percent in April. His disapproval rating has risen five points to 58 percent. Overall, 48 percent say they “disapprove strongly” of Trump’s performance in office, a level never reached by former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and reached only in the second term of George W. Bush in Post-ABC polling. Almost half of all Americans (48 percent) see the country’s leadership in the world as weaker since Trump was inaugurated, compared with 27 percent who say it is stronger. Just over one-third of all Americans say they trust the president either “a great deal” or “a good amount” in foreign negotiations. Asked specifically about Trump-Putin negotiations, almost 2 in 3 say they do not trust the president much, including 48 percent who say they do not trust the president “at all.”

Alarming Spike in Middle School Suicide Rate in U.S.

The suicide rate among 10- to 14-year-olds in the U.S. doubled between 2007 and 2014, for the first time surpassing the death rate in that age group from car crashes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2014 alone, 425 middle schoolers nationwide took their own lives. “It’s alarming. We’re even getting cases involving 8- and 9-year olds,” said Clark Flatt, who started the Jason Foundation in Tennessee 20 years ago to help educate teachers about teen suicide after his 16-year-old son took his own life. Researchers, educators and psychologists say increased pressure on students to achieve academically, more economic uncertainty, increased fear of terrorism and bullying on social media are behind the rise in suicides among the young. The use of social media is a particular worry because it has amped up bullying among a vulnerable age group. Young students in prior generations left school each afternoon and avoided someone who bullied them until the next day or week. Now, social media allows for bullying 24/7.

Economic News

Middle-class Americans are enjoying a steady job market but are reluctant to spend freely due to economic uncertainty and are hoarding money in banks. Total bank deposits rose 6.6% last year to $10.7 trillion, extending steady growth seen in recent years, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Deposits measured as a percentage of bank assets are 77.6% in the first quarter of 2017, the highest since 2006. And Americans love liquidity. They hold about $2 trillion in checking accounts now. The average U.S. checking account deposit is about $3,600, climbing from $1,000 in 2007.

Americans curtailed their shopping in June, with less spending at restaurants, department stores and gasoline stations. The spending pullback came despite a healthy job market and suggests that economic growth could remain sluggish. Retail sales fell 0.2 percent after declining 0.1 percent in May, the Commerce Department said Friday. The decline reflects in part a transformative shift by consumers toward Amazon and other online retailers. Sales at department stores, once the anchors of shopping malls, have dwindled. The rise of online shopping has left more retailers competing on price or striving to offer deeper discounts — factors that can limit overall sales figures. Even former sources of strength in retail, like restaurants and auto dealers, have faced weakening sales in recent months.

Rent prices have spiked. Cheap housing has been demolished. The national rental vacancy rate is at its lowest point in three decades. And Americans are being evicted in near-record numbers. More than one-third of American rental households spend 30 percent or more of their income on housing, a mark widely considered the standard for affordability. A national shortfall of 7.4 million affordable rental units has forced the country’s lowest-income renters tolive month to month, always one medical problem or layoff away from losing another home. In 1996, Arizona’s Maricopa County Courts ordered 5,542 evictions. Those same courts processed 22,231 evictions in 2016, pulling people from their homes and plunging them into a rental market with few options.

Millions of Americans who rely on Social Security can expect to receive their biggest payment increase in years this January, according to projections released Thursday by the trustees who oversee the program. The increase is projected to be just 2.2%, or about $28 a month for the average recipient. Social Security recipients have gone years with tiny increases in benefits. This year they received an increase of 0.3%, after getting nothing last year. More than 61 million retirees, disabled workers, spouses and surviving children receive Social Security benefits. The average monthly payment is $1,253.

Chinese firms have spent $91 billion over the past decade purchasing nearly 300 foreign companies involved in agriculture, chemicals and food, according to Dealogic. Experts say the purchases are part of China’s plan to improve its ability to supply food to its population of nearly 1.4 billion. As Chinese living standards improve and citizens demand more meat products, the country needs a growing supply of animal feed. But China is contending with major challenges: An aging agricultural workforce, pollution, climate change and high levels of soil depletion. The country’s farms also suffer from low yields due to outdated farming practices.

Israel

Two officers were killed in an attack by three Palestinian assailants at the Temple Mount, Friday. The police officers died of wounds sustained in the attack. Three Arab citizens of Israel opened fire on police near a gate of Jerusalem’s Old City. The assailants were later killed in a gunfight at a mosque near Luba Samri. The attackers were armed with 2 Carl Gustav machine guns and a pistol. The holy compound is known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. It is the holiest site to Jews and the third holiest in Islam. Since September 2015, Palestinian attackers have killed 43 Israelis, two visiting Americans and a British tourist. In that time, Israeli forces have killed more than 254 Palestinians, most of them said by Israel to be attackers.

Tensions remained high in and around the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City on Monday following last Friday’s shooting attack which killed two Israeli police officers and left the three terrorists who initiated the violence dead as well. The area was re-opened on Sunday with metal detectors at the entrances, which Islamic authorities in Jerusalem called a totally unnecessary and insulting measure, advising their followers to avoid entering the site. Other voices in the Islamic world called for a general Palestinian uprising to protest the security measures.

Egypt

Two German female tourists were stabbed to death while four other foreigners were wounded in an attack Friday at a hotel in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada. The assault came just hours after a shooting near some of Egypt’s most famous pyramids outside of Cairo killed five policemen. TFriday’s attacks are likely to further impact Egypt’s deeply struggling tourism industry — a pillar of the country’s economy that employs millions of people. The industry has suffered from political instability and a fragile security situation since the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.he attacker at the Red Sea resort was arrested immediately. A security official said the attacker, a man in his 20s dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans, wielded a knife and intentionally sought to attack foreigners. “Stay away, I don’t want Egyptians,” the assailant had said in Arabic during the attack, according to the official. Without taking any blame for what appears to be a major security breach, the Interior Ministry said the attacker had sneaked into the hotel by swimming from a nearby beach. In the killings of the five policemen outside of Cairo, no group claimed responsibility for the attack but it bore the hallmarks of a smaller Islamic terrorist group known as Hasm that has been behind similar shootings in recent months.

Afghanistan

The Pentagon said Friday that US forces have killed Abu Sayed, the leader of ISIS-Khorasan, the terror group’s Afghanistan affiliate. The “Emir” of ISIS-K was killed “in a strike on the group’s headquarters in Kunar Province, July 11,” the Pentagon said. Sayed was killed in an airstrike by a US drone. Gen. John Nicholson, Commander, US Forces Afghanistan said in a statement, “This operation is another success in our campaign to defeat ISIS-K in Afghanistan in 2017. Abu Sayed is the third ISIS-K emir we have killed in the last year and we will continue until they are annihilated. There is no safe haven for ISIS-K in Afghanistan.” Secretary of Defense James Mattis told reporters on Friday that the death of a leader like Sayed “sets them back for a day a week, a month.”

Qatar

The United Arab Emirates orchestrated the hacking of Qatari government news and social media sites in order to post incendiary false quotes attributed to Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani, in late May that sparked the ongoing upheaval between Qatar and its neighbors, according to U.S. intelligence officials. Officials became aware last week that newly analyzed information gathered by U.S. intelligence agencies confirmed that on May 23, senior members of the UAE government discussed the plan and its implementation. The officials said it remains unclear whether the UAE carried out the hacks itself or contracted to have them done. The false reports said that the emir, among other things, had called Iran an “Islamic power” and praised Hamas. Citing the emir’s reported comments, the Saudis, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt immediately banned all Qatari media. They then broke relations with Qatar and declared a trade and diplomatic boycott, sending the region into a political and diplomatic tailspin could undermine U.S. counterterrorism efforts against the Islamic State.

London

Five men were attacked with acid in London on Thursday night with one man suffering life-changing facial injuries in what police are treating as linked assaults. The five attacks, which were reported to police over a 70-minute period, are the latest in a spike of incidents using corrosive liquids as weapons in robberies and gang-related violence in the British capital. Police said at least four of the five attacks involved two males on a moped, and in at least two cases the attackers stole mopeds belonging to their victims. Another incident involved a robbery. A 16-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and robbery, and is currently in custody at an east London police station. Acid attacks are on the rise in London. In 2014, there were 166 filed incidents, rising to 261 in 2015, and 454 in 2016. Acid attacks in London are largely concentrated in the city’s east. London’s police chief Cressida Dick explained that it was not happening across all boroughs.

Environment

One of the largest icebergs ever recorded broke off from an ice shelf in Antarctica, British scientists announced Wednesday. The 1 trillion-ton iceberg, which is twice of the volume of Lake Erie, broke off from the Larsen C Ice Shelf between Monday and Wednesday, according to Project MIDAS, which has been monitoring the ice shelf. At 2,200 square miles, the chunk of floating ice is nearly the size of Delaware. Over the past several months, an ever-lengthening and widening crack in the Larsen C ice shelf gradually lengthened until the 120-mile crack, first spotted in 2011, finally made its way back to the sea, “calving” off the massive iceberg. The iceberg is one of the largest recorded and its future progress is difficult to predict, experts say. It may remain in one piece, but is more likely to break into fragments. Some of the ice may remain in the area for decades, while parts of the iceberg may drift north into warmer waters.

Two homes were destroyed Friday and another is directly in the path of a rapidly expanding sinkhole about 20 miles north of Tampa. Crews have evacuated 10 additional homes in the area of the 50-foot-deep hole in a suburb dotted with lakes and ponds. Areas around Tampa and much of Florida are known for their porous limestone underground that can collapse abruptly, creating sinkholes. Authorities received a call about what they called a depression the size of a small swimming pool at around 7:20 a.m. ET Friday. By 3:30 p.m., the sinkhole had grown to 250 feet wide with no signs of stopping. Florida is one of seven states — also including Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Pennsylvania — where sinkholes are most likely to occur, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Wildfires

A video of the Wall fire north of Bangor, Calif., features a “firenado,” a whirlwind of flames that burns at extreme temperatures. A remotely operated camera at Oroville Dam captured the vortex, which can become large enough to rip trees from the ground and pull roofs off houses. The Wall wildfire, which began at around 3 p.m. PT Friday in the Sierra foothills about 60 miles north of Sacramento, has destroyed more than 40 homes, damaged three other homes, and destroyed or damaged almost 60 other structures. Even though it’s about 60% contained, more than 600 structures remain threatened.

Weather

Storms producing heavy rainfall triggered flash flooding throughout the Midwest and Northeast last week, closing roads and Interstate Highways at times, damaging homes and toppling trees in many areas.

A drought impacting parts of the High Plains has reduced fields normally plentiful with crops to waste, along with pastures that typically would be home to grazing cattle. Some longtime farmers and ranchers say it’s the worst conditions they’ve seen in decades — possibly their lifetimes — and simple survival has become their goal as a dry summer drags on without a rain cloud in sight.

Several U.S. cities are seeing their hottest summer to date, from June 1-July 12. This includes Phoenix, which has seen an average temperature of 95.8 degrees during this period, and Las Vegas, which tied its all-time record high of 117 degrees June 20. Salt Lake City is also experiencing its hottest summer on record and interestingly, 2015 and 2016 hold the second and third hottest spots to date. Other cities currently on pace to set a new record for hottest summer are Reno, Nevada, Tucson, Arizona, and Bakersfield, California. Medford, Oregon, has seen its second warmest summer-to-date on record and Yakima, Washington, has seen its third warmest.

Flooding and landslides in India have killed at least 28 people since mid-June. Around 500,000 people have fled their homes in 800 villages across nearly half of Assam’s 27 districts.

Rare snowfall in Santiago, Chile, left at least one person dead and caused widespread power outages Sunday, affecting 337,000 people. An early winter cold front brought cold temperatures to the southern and central parts of Chile. Snow accumulated up to nearly two inches, the first measurable snow since 2007.

At least 61 people who came to the United States as “refugees” engaged in terrorist activities between 2002 and 2016, according to a new report authored by the Heritage Foundation. The report identified scores of refugees, including many who came prior to 2002, as having taken part in activities ranging from lying to investigators about terror plots, to actually taking part in them.

Somali refugee Abdul Ali Artan, wounded 11 fellow students in a car and knife attack at Ohio State University on Nov. 28 last year.

Uzbek refugee Fazliddin Kurbanov, resettled in Boise, Idaho, and was convicted in 2015 of plotting to recruit and train American Muslims to blow up American military installations.

Six members of Minnesota’s Somali refugee community were arrested and convicted of trying to trying to leave the country to join ISIS in Syria.

A college student and Somali refugee, who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship, attempted to blow up a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Oregon. He is serving a 30-year prison sentence.

The report’s total of 61 terror-related refugees does not include the more than 40 Somali refugees who have simply vanished from the U.S. and the FBI confirms they have successfully traveled to the Middle East to participate in jihadist operations with ISIS, al-Shabab and other terrorist organizations.

60% of Voters Support Trump Travel Ban

Sixty percent of registered voters favor President Donald Trump’s travel ban on visitors from six predominantly Muslim countries, while 28% oppose it, a new Politico/Morning Consult poll reveals. 84% of Republican voters back the restrictions, while only 9 percent oppose them. 41% of Democrats favor the guidelines, compared to 46% who do not. 56% of independents support the ban, while 30% are against it. Eighty percent of voters think travelers from those six countries should be admitted to the U.S. if they have a parent living in America, and 78 percent think they should be admitted to join a spouse or child in the country; all three are permitted under the revised directive.

Canadian Baby is First Child Not to be Assigned a Gender at Birth

A child born in the Canadian province of British Columbia is reportedly the first baby not to be identified as male or female at birth. Instead, the baby, named Searyl Atli Doty, was identified as “U” on their health card, which reportedly stands for “Unknown” or “Unspecified.” The baby’s parent, Kori Doty, identifies as a non-binary transgender and hopes that, by foregoing a genital inspection and identification for the child, the child can more easily discover their true identity later in life–something which Doty says was a personal struggle. “When I was born, doctors looked at my genitals and made assumptions about who I would be, and those assignments followed me and followed my identification throughout my life,” Doty said. Although Doty has reportedly faced difficulty in obtaining a birth certificate for Searyl, the health card will allow the child to be eligible for healthcare services. Eight complainants, including Doty, are arguing before British Columbia’s Human Rights Tribunal that gender identification at birth should be abolished.

End-time idiocy is being taken to absurd levels

Young Men Playing Video Games Instead of Working

According to a report that was released by the National Bureau of Economic Research on Monday, American men from the ages of 21 to 30 are working a lot less these days. In fact, on average men in this age group worked 203 fewer hours per year in 2015 than they did in 2000. Men ages 21 to 30 years old worked 12 percent fewer hours in 2015 than they did in 2000, the economists found. Around 15 percent of young men worked zero weeks in 2015, a rate nearly double that of 2000. So, what did they do with all of that extra time? According to the study, a large portion of the time that young men used to spend working is now being spent playing video games. Younger men increased their recreational computer use and video gaming by nearly 50 percent from eight years ago. This phenomenon is known as “extended adolescence”, and it is becoming a major societal problem.

Trump Isolated at G20 Meeting, Presses Putin on Hacking, Syria

For years the United States was the dominant force and set the agenda at the annual gathering of the leaders of the world’s largest economies. But on Friday, when President Trump met with 19 other leaders at the Group of 20 conference, he found the United States isolated on everything from trade to climate change. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, the host of the meeting, opened it by acknowledging the differences between the United States and the rest of the countries. While “compromise can only be found if we accommodate each other’s views,” she said, “we can also say, we differ.” Ms. Merkel also pointed out that most of the countries supported the Paris accord on climate change, while Mr. Trump has abandoned it. Trump seemed to relish his isolation. For him, the critical moment was his long meeting with the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, which served to reset the relations with Russia. He pressed Putin on election hacking (which Putin denied) in a “robust and lengthy exchange,” and pressured Putin into agreeing to a cease fire in the war raging in Syria (see Syria below).

World Leaders Move Forward on Climate Change, Without U.S.

World leaders struck a compromise on Saturday to move forward collectively on climate change without the United States, declaring the Paris accord “irreversible” while acknowledging President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the agreement. In a final communiqué at the conclusion of the Group of 20 summit meeting in Hamburg, Germany, the nations took “note” of Mr. Trump’s decision to abandon the pact and “immediately cease” efforts to enact former President Barack Obama’s pledge of curbing greenhouse gas emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. But the other 19 members of the group broke explicitly with Mr. Trump in their embrace of the international deal, signing off on a detailed policy blueprint outlining how their countries could meet their goals in the pact. Differences between the United States and other nations on climate, trade and migration made for a tricky summit meeting

Trump, in Poland, Vows the West Will Never be Broken

President Trump delivered a staunch defense of Western values during a rousing speech Thursday to thousands of Poles in Warsaw’s Krasinski Square, rallying allies against what he described as “dire threats” to civilization and vowing, “the West will never, ever be broken.” Trump said nations must have the will to protect borders and preserve civilization from those who would destroy it. In his speech, Trump saluted Polish sacrifice and underscored the United States’ commitment to NATO, Poland and Western values. Trump arrived in Warsaw late Wednesday for a 16-hour visit before leaving for the G-20 summit in Germany.

Protesters Disrupt G-20 Meeting

German police are trying to prevent small groups of mostly anti-capitalist protesters from disrupting the G20 summit in Hamburg, as world leaders including US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin meet for talks. Officers dressed in riot gear intervened as protest groups tried to enter the red zone — the blocked-off area close to the summit venue — while other small groups staged sit-ins across the city. At one of the sit-ins, a little over a mile from the summit security zone, water cannon were deployed against protesters. At one point, protesters blocked Melania Trump from leaving her guest house. Anti-globalization activists rioted for a second night, setting up street barricades, looting supermarkets, setting cars on fire and attacking police with slingshots and petrol bombs.

U.S. Missile Shield Not Ready for North Korea Nuclear Attack

As North Korea continues testing missiles it says can reach the United States, while simultaneously working to build nuclear warheads small enough to mount atop them, America’s plan to shoot down the ICBMs is nowhere near a sure bet, Politico reports. The U.S. plan includes various sensors, radars, and interceptor missiles based in Alaska and California. But testing has been far from 100 percent. In fact, three of five tests have failed. And the two that succeeded were “heavily scripted,” Politico quoted military leaders. The Pentagon defended its Ground-based Midcourse Defense system and maintained that it can take down missiles flying through the atmosphere, but that optimistic view is not widely shared. “If the North Koreans fired everything they had at us, and we fired at all of the missiles, we’d probably get most of them,” Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia nonproliferation program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, told Politico. “But is ‘probably get most’ a good day or a bad day?”

Few Americans Emigrating to Canada

Many Americans said they wanted to move to Canada after Donald Trump became president, but few actually followed through, The National Post reports. New data released by Canada’s immigration office indicates only a slight year-over-year uptick in applications for Canadian citizenship in 2017. In the first four months of 2016, an average of 264 people filed applications each month. This year, the number rose to 400 in that period — that’s more than a 50% jump from 2016 but just half of the average from 2012. The data actually suggests a trend of declining applications overall. Becoming a Canadian citizen is an expensive, time-consuming process. Applicants must pony up more than $500 just to apply, and those who get accepted must have a sponsor, such as an employer or spouse, to vouch that the immigrant will be able to live comfortably. Full citizenship will come roughly six years later.

Uninsured Numbers Increase as Obamacare Erodes

The number of U.S. adults without health insurance has grown by some 2 million this year, according to a major new survey that finds recent coverage gains beginning to erode. The new numbers highlight what’s at stake as Congress returns to an unresolved debate over Republican proposals to roll back much of former President Barack Obama’s health care law. The Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index, published Monday, found that the uninsured rate among U.S. adults was 11.7 percent in the second three months of this year, compared with a record low of 10.9 percent at the end of last year. While “Obamacare” has remained politically divisive, it had helped drive the uninsured rate to historic lows as some 20 million people gained coverage. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that at least 22 million more people would become uninsured under proposed Republican legislation.

More than 100 Wounded, 14 Killed in Chicago over July 4th Weekend

More than 100 people were shot in Chicago over the long Independence Day weekend as a deadly wave of violence once again rocked the massive city besieged by unrelenting gun crime. At least 14 of the gunshot victims died, police said Wednesday. Most of violence took place in a 6-hour period Monday night and early Tuesday, predominantly on the South and West sides of the city. The Trump administration announced Friday it was dispatching an additional 20 ATF agents to the city to stem gun violence that has left more than 1,000 dead over the past 18 months. The vast majority of the murders and shooting incidents in Chicago occur in a few predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods on the city’s West and South Sides, and are driven by gang-related feuds and drug wars. Over the following weekend, two people were murdered and 32 others were wounded in shootings across the Chicagoland area.

Police Officer Deaths Have Up 18% in 2017

The ambush shooting that killed a New York City police officer in the Bronx marked the latest in a growing number of officer deaths in 2017, up 18 percent from this time last year. A total of 67 officers have died so far this year, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. In addition, gun-related deaths have risen by 9 percent, from 22 to 24 for 2017, the researchers say. The figures continue a grim trend; 2016 was the deadliest year for police in 5 years. A total of 135 officers died last year. Approximately 50,000 law enforcement officers were assaulted in some manner, some causing disabling injuries. “People now are more willing to engage the police in combat,” said Randy Sutton, national spokesman for Blue Lives Matter and a retired Las Vegas police lieutenant.

Food Stamp Rolls Plummet in States that Restore Work Requirements

After the food stamp rolls swelled for years under the Obama administration, fresh figures show a dramatic reduction in states that recently have moved to restore work requirements. States were allowed to waive those rules for able-bodied adults thanks to Obama’s 2009 economic stimulus plan. Food stamp enrollment soared to record levels – peaking at nearly 48 million nationwide in 2013. Some states have moved aggressively to push recipients who can work back into the job market and, in due time, off the program. Alabama began 2017 by requiring able-bodied adults without children in 13 counties to either find a job or participate in work training as a condition for continuing to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. The number of recipients declined from 5,538 to 831 between Jan. 1 and the beginning of May – an 85 percent drop. Similar changes were implemented in select counties in Georgia and by the end of the first three months, the number of adults receiving benefits in three participating counties dropped 58 percent

Illinois to Become First State with Junk Credit Rating

Illinois may still get slapped with a “junk” credit rating despite nearing a breakthrough that would end the state’s two-year budget nightmare. Moody’s warned on Wednesday that it may downgrade Illinois’s credit rating because the proposed budget and accompanying tax increases don’t fix the root causes of the state’s epic financial mess. A downgrade would make Illinois America’s first state with a junk credit rating and could make its recovery efforts even harder by causing borrowing costs to rise. The budget compromise, which includes a 32% tax hike, lacks “broad bipartisan support” and that may “signal shortcomings” in its effectiveness, Moody’s warned. Illinois Republican Governor Bruce Rauner on Wednesday slammed the tax hike as a “phony” solution that will be a “disaster,” a day after he vetoed the budget legislation. The state Senate voted on Tuesday to override the veto and the House is expected to follow suit later this week. Not only has the two-year budget standoff caused Illinois to rack up $15 billion in unpaid bills, but Moody’s estimates it has a staggering $251 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.

Economic News

The U.S. economy added 222,000 net new jobs in June, beating expectations for 179,000 jobs. The unemployment rate ticked slightly higher to 4.4% from 4.3%, just above its lowest level since 2001. June was the 81st consecutive month of job gains. The labor force participation rate edged up to 62.8% from 62.7% during the month. Wages grew 2.5% in June compared with a year ago. That’s slightly better than in prior years but well below the goal of 3.5% set by the Federal Reserve. Wages are one of the last indicators to really pick up momentum since the recession ended in 2009.

Every week, it seems a new retailer is shuttering stores. According to an estimate from Credit Suisse, U.S. retailers are on track for more than 8,000 store closings this year, even more than in 2008, at the peak of the financial crisis. Some have called it a retail apocalypse, as the forces of e-commerce and bloated debt burdens are forcing a number of retailers to declare bankruptcy or downsize. Urban Outfitters’ CEO declared that after years of overexpansion, “the retail bubble has burst.”

Two years after an international bailout that was supposed to lead to an economic revival, conditions here have only worsened. The economy is stagnant, unemployment hovers around 25% and is twice as high for young adults, taxes are rising, and wages are falling. Half of Greek homeowners can’t make their mortgage payments and another quarter can’t afford their property taxes, rendering many homeless, according to the Bank of Greece.

Persecution Watch

Turkey’s president and his government continue to target Christians. In his latest effort to subjugate Turkey’s Christian population to the government, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seized control of 50 Syriac churches. Erdogan’s government is intentionally targeting Christian churches in their quest to bring Sharia Law to Turkey. The most recent confiscation of churches took place via the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet). Among the churches taken over by the government is the 1,600-year-old Mor Gabriel Monastery, This is not the first time Erdogan has seized control of churches in Turkey. In 2016, he took over six churches, one of which was another ancient place of worship.one of the world’s oldest places of worship.

Operation Rescue has discovered that Google’s search engine has manipulated search parameters to dramatically reduce exposure to a page containing important facts about abortion on the OperationRescue.org website. The fact page Abortions in America, was – until six weeks ago – OperationRescue.org’s most visited page. It previously appeared on Google in top five hits on the search “Abortions in US,” and was a top referrer to OperationRescue.org. It has since been buried off the first results page and well down the list. The page was also dropped off the first page of results for the search “Abortion Statistics,” which had been one of Operation Rescue.org’s top search referrals.

Israel

A vote was held last week at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to declare Israel and “occupying power” in Jerusalem and harshly criticizing archeological excavations there. “Nothing is more disgraceful than UNESCO declaring the world’s only Jewish state the ‘occupier’ of the Western Wall and Jerusalem’s Old City,” said Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu read Genesis 23:16-19 from the Bible during Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting as a refutation of Friday’s resolution passed by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee designating the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Hebron a Palestinian heritage site. “The connection between the Jewish People and Hebron and the Tomb of the Patriarchs is one of purchase and of history, he declared. Netanyahu explained that in wake of this resolution, he has decided to cut an additional $1 million from Israel’s UN membership dues and transfer the funds to the establishment of “The Museum of the Heritage of the Jewish People in Kiryat Arba and Hebron.”

Syria

An open-ended cease-fire in southern Syria brokered by the United States, Russia, and Jordan came into effect on Sunday at noon. The agreement, announced Thursday after a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, is the first initiative by the Trump administration in collaboration with Russia to bring some stability to war-torn Syria. It followed weeks of secretive talks in the Jordanian capital, Amman, to address the buildup of Iranian-backed forces, in support of the Syrian government, near the Jordanian and Israeli borders. The three brokering nations did not specify mechanisms to monitor or enforce the truce. The truce covers the Quneitra, Daraa, and Sweida provinces, where the government and the rebels are also fighting Islamic State militants, who are not included in the truce. No cease-fire has lasted long in the six-year-old Syrian war.

Islamic State

The loss of the Islamic State’s two largest cities (Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq) will not spell a final defeat for ISIS according to analysts and American and Middle Eastern officials. The group has already shifted back to its roots as an insurgent force, but one that now has an international reach and an ideology that continues to motivate attackers around the world, reports the New York Times. “These are obviously major blows to ISIS because its state-building project is over, there is no more caliphate, and that will diminish support and recruits,” said Hassan Hassan, a senior fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy in Washington and a co-author of a book on the group. “But ISIS today is an international organization. Its leadership and its ability to grow are still there.”

Iran

Ships chartered by two oil traders responsible for a significant share of Iran’s fuel exports last year failed to transmit their location and the origin of their cargo, red flags for governments seeking evidence of evasion of sanctions on Tehran. The ships’ radio-signal tracking systems were often not in use and occasionally indicated the ships had sailed from countries other than Iran, a Wall Street Journal investigation found. The U.S. government is analyzing movements of ships in the Persian Gulf for any attempts to circumvent bans on funding Iran’s weapons programs or clearing payments for Iranian oil through the U.S. financial system.

Turkey

Tens of thousands of Turkish citizens have marched an arduous 250 miles over three weeks for a protest in Istanbul on Sunday, to demand their government loosen its stranglehold on the country’s democracy. The “March for Justice” has grown from a modest one-man protest by opposition party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who vowed to walk from the capital, Ankara, to Istanbul after the imprisonment of one of his party’s elected representative. Kilicdaroglu has been joined by throngs of disaffected citizens along the way and expects a huge crowd to attend the rally Sunday evening. “Turkey has stopped being a democratic country. It has become beholden to one man,” Kilicdaroglu told CNN. “This we cannot accept.” The rally comes almost a year after a failed military coup radically changed the country’s direction. Following the coup attempt, Erdogan and his government have clamped down on civil liberties across the country, gutted public institutions and universities, heavily restricted the media and ordered mass arrests of activists, journalists and the political opposition.

North Korea

North Korea’s test-launch of a missile capable of reaching the United States drew a swift reaction from the U.S. Army and South Korean military, which in turn launched at least two surface-to-surface missiles as a demonstration of their attack capability. The North Korean launch and retaliatory U.S.-South Korea actions come as U.S. officials use increasingly strong language to condemn and warn North Korea. “We remain prepared to defend ourselves and our allies and to use the full range of capabilities at our disposal against the growing threat from North Korea,” chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana W. White said in a statement. North Korean state media sharply criticized the U.S. on Sunday for a recent practice bombing run on the Korean peninsula, calling it a dangerous move raising the risk of nuclear war.

Kenya

Islamist Al-Shabab extremists from neighboring Somalia beheaded nine civilians in an early-morning attack on a village in southeast Kenyan, officials said Saturday, as concerns grew that the group had taken up a bloody new strategy. Beheadings by al-Shabab have been rare in Kenya, where the extremist group has carried out dozens of deadly attacks over the years. The East African country has seen an increase in attacks claimed by al-Shabab in recent weeks, posing a security threat ahead of next month’s presidential election. The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab has vowed retribution on Kenya for sending troops in 2011 to Somalia to fight the group, which last year became the deadliest Islamic extremist group in Africa.

Volcanoes

An Alaskan volcano that has erupted several times since last year spewed an ash cloud up to 30,000 feet, leading to an aviation warning. The Bogoslof volcano erupted Saturday, sending ash over the Aleutians Islands, the Alaska Volcano Observatory said. It “remains at a heightened state of unrest and in an unpredictable condition, and additional explosions producing high-altitude volcanic clouds could occur at any time,” the observatory said. The volcano sits under the flight path of many flights from Asia to North America.

Earthquakes

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit a mountainous area of western Montana overnight Thursday, producing minor damage near the epicenter. The quake, reportedly the strongest to hit the state in 12 years, was felt as far away as eastern Washington, southern Canada and Idaho. The U.S. Geological Survey said the 12:30 a.m. MDT quake was centered about 7 miles south-southeast of Lincoln, Montana. Power outages were reported in the town and at least one social media photo indicated damage there. Shaking was reported in the state capital, Helena, just 34 miles southeast of the epicenter. At least one gas leak was reported.

At least 10 people were injured in a collapsed building, trapping an unspecified number of others, when a strong, shallow earthquake shook the central Philippines on Thursday. Power was knocked out in some areas and sent villagers fleeing from their homes. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 6.5 and struck at a depth of 4 miles near Masarayao town in Leyte province. Shallow earthquakes generally cause more damage on the Earth’s surface. The Philippines sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where earthquakes and volcanoes are common.

Wildfires

In California, two major wildfires forced nearly 8,000 people out of their homes over last weekend. The Wall fire has burned nearly 9 square miles, injured four firefighters and destroyed at least 17 structures, but that number is expected to rise, fire officials said Monday. About 4,000 people evacuated and another 7,400 were told to prepare to leave their homes as fire swept through grassy foothills in the Sierra Nevada, about 60 miles north of Sacramento. In Southern California, at least 3,500 people evacuated as two fires raged at separate ends of Santa Barbara County. The largest has charred more than 45 square miles of dry brush and is threatening more than 130 rural homes. It’s only 15 percent contained. About 50 miles to the south, a 17-square-mile blaze shut down State Route 154 and sent weekend campers scrambling for safety. It’s just 5 percent contained.

Nine large (over 100 acres) wildfires are burning in Arizona which have consumed about 148,000 acres, not including the Goodwin fire which has been completely contained after torching 28,516 acres and destroying 33 structures. Five of these current blazes are major Incident One fires. The Brooklyn fire started July 7, 25 miles NW of Cave Creek. It was caused by lightning, and has burned 32,778 acres and is 0% contained as of Tuesday morning. Two lightning caused fires within relative proximity to the Brooklyn Fire have been incorporated into the management area on the Tonto National Forest. They are the Bull Fire (S/SE of the Brooklyn Fire) and Cedar Fire (E/SE of the Brooklyn Fire). These 2 fires are not a threat to structures at this time and are in remote areas with difficult access.

For the first time in 15 years, Canada’s British Columbia has declared a province-wide state of emergency as scores of wildfires burn out of control. evacuations were ordered for an entire town, at least one airport, two hospitals and hundreds of homes after 142 new fires broke out throughout the province on Friday, bringing the total number of fires burning to 182. By Monday, irefighters were contending with more than 200 wildfires that have destroyed dozens of buildings, including several homes and two airport hangars. The three biggest fires, which have grown in size to range from 9 to 19 square miles, had forced thousands of people to flee. Some 7,000 people have been evacuated throughout the province. Sparked by lightning and fueled by gusty winds, the blazes are being reported “faster than can be written down.”

Weather – Domestic

A heat wave from the northern Plains to parts of the northern Rockies and Great Basin shows little sign of relenting over the next week or more, and that’s likely to exacerbate the nation’s most rapidly worsening drought in parts of the Dakotas and Montana. This northern Plains drought developed quickly by late May over a sizable swath of eastern Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. A drought emergency was declared in eastern Montana by Gov. Steve Bullock in late June. Local ranchers and farmers told KRTV-TV this is the worst drought in northeast Montana since 1988. Fifteen North Dakota counties were designated as agricultural disaster areas at the end of June. Highs well into the 90s or low 100s are likely to persist in the northern High Plains drought area, as well as lower elevations of the northern Rockies and Great Basin

Flooding in Texas left at least one person dead Sunday ahead of a round of severe thunderstorms that are expected to continue flaring up over parts of the northern Plains and Northeast. Scores of tornadoes broke out over the weekend in the Plains, especially in Indiana and Illinois. An 18-inch diameter tree was downed by strong thunderstorm winds on the Ohio State University Campus in Columbus, Ohio, Monday. Just north of the city, Interstate 71 had to be shut down at 5th Avenue due to flooding on the highway.

Weather – International

At least 56 people have been killed and an additional 22 have been reported missing as torrential rains triggered massive flooding in southern China. More than 60 rivers in China were close to overflowing their of banks Wednesday. Entire towns have been flooded, halting traffic and resulting in power outages, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs said Tuesday. Nearly 20 inches of rain fell on a number of cities dating back to Thursday, including the scenic resort city of Guilin in the Guangxi region. More than 11 million people in 11 southern provinces were affected by floods, landslides and hailstorms. Water levels in major rivers and lakes in the southern province of Hunan have surged to alarming levels, and that the collapse of levees forced large-scale evacuations. Dozens of flights at several airports serving major cities in the region including Chengdu, Changsha, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen were canceled or delayed, stranding thousands of travelers.

Heavy rains since the start of India’s monsoon season have triggered floods and landslides in parts of the remote northeastern region, causing at least 20 deaths, authorities said Wednesday. Nearly 400,000 people have left their flooded homes in 750 villages across nearly half of Assam’s 27 districts. Nearly 30,000 people have taken shelter in relief camps run by the state government. Most others were living with their relatives or on nearby river embankments or higher ground.

Widespread flooding triggered by torrential rainfall has killed at least fifteen and forced the evacuation of nearly 500,000 people in southwest Japan. At least 11 people are missing as several areas in Fukuoka and Oita prefectures on the island of Kyushu were hit by flooding and landslides. The chaos comes after heavy rain caused two locations in Kyushu to rack up their heaviest 24-hour rainfall totals since records began in 1976. Police say a house where two people live was washed away and thousands of homes are without power, while a group of children and teachers were stranded by floodwaters.

Seven Planned Parenthood facilities, six of which conducted medication abortions, are set to permanently close today in three states (California, New Jersey and Iowa). Planned Parenthood officials noted that the closures were primarily an attempt to remain solvent amid fears that Medicaid reimbursements would be halted by Congress. “It isn’t very often we see seven Planned Parenthood facilities close in one day. This may have set some kind of record. It is great news for women and their babies who will no longer be preyed upon for profit by Planned Parenthood in these communities,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “Many Planned Parenthood facilities survive only on on government funding. There are so many other reputable providers of legitimate healthcare for women out there. Even if every Planned Parenthood was shut down, no one would have to do without proper medical care. We should not be funding Planned Parenthood with our tax dollars.”

Top Vatican Official Charged with Sexual Abuse in Australia.

A top Vatican official denied allegations of sexual offenses on Thursday after being charged by Australian police,saying he would take a leave of absence as one of Pope Francis’ chief advisers to defend himself. Speaking to reporters in the Vatican, Cardinal George Pell denounced “relentless character assassination” in the media and confirmed he would return to his native Australia to face the charges. Australian police earlier Thursday announced that Pell faces multiple charges of “historical sexual assault offenses,” that nation’s term for charges related to past conduct. Pell — Australia’s senior-most Catholic prelate — has for years faced questions in his role in the staggering scale of sexual abuse by the Australian church. But he has never before been directly charged. The controversy is a challenge to Pope Francis’ attempts to address the church’s long-running abuse scandal, particularly since much of the abuse in the Australian church waswell-known at the time the pontiff appointed him to his current role.

Man Runs Down Newly Installed Ten Commandments Monument

The man accused of ramming a car into the newly erected Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Arkansas state Capitol Wednesday posted a video to Facebook shortly before the incident, saying he was doing it because it was a violation of the separation of church and state. Michael Tate Reed, 32, then streamed to Facebook Live the moment he drove his 2016 Dodge Dart over the statehouse lawn and crashed into the monument. The 6-foot tall stone monument was knocked off of its base and broke into at least three sections, with some of the pieces crumbling. Reed, 32, was immediately arrested by Capitol police. He faces charges of defacing an object of public interest, criminal mischief in the first degree and criminal trespass. Reed was arrested after a similar event in 2014 where he allegedly ran over another Ten Commandments statue on capitol grounds.

President Trump may have won a partial victory at the Supreme Court this week, but other federal judges remain major stumbling blocks to his aggressive immigration plans, with courts from California to Michigan and Atlanta limiting his crackdown on sanctuary cities and stopping him from deporting illegal immigrants he has targeted for removal. The judges in those deportation cases have rejected Mr. Trump’s argument that he has wide latitude to decide who gets kicked out, without having to worry about district courts second-guessing him on facts of the case, reports the Washington Times. Instead, the judges said, they get to decide their jurisdiction, and that extends to reviewing Mr. Trump’s immigration policy. One judge in Michigan ordered the Homeland Security Department to freeze all deportation plans for about 200 Chaldean Christians arrested over the past two months and scheduled to be sent back to Iraq. Nearly every one of them has a criminal record.

At Least 25 States Resist Voting Commission’s Request for Data

Last week, President Trump’s voting commission issued a sweeping request for nationwide voter data that drew sharp condemnation from election experts and resistance from more than two dozen states that said they cannot or will not hand over all of the data. The immediate backlash marked the first significant attention to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity since Trump started it last month and followed through on a vow to pursue his claims that voter fraud is rampant and cost him the popular vote in the presidential election. The White House has said the commission will embark upon a “thorough review of registration and voting issues in federal elections.” Critics fear that the commission will be used to restrict voting. While the Trump administration says it is just requesting public information, the letters met with swift — and sometimes defiant — rejection. By Friday, 25 states were partially or entirely refusing to provide the requested information; some said state laws prohibit releasing certain details about voters, while others refused to provide any information because of the commission’s makeup and backstory.

U.S. Hits Refugee Limit Set by President Trump

The United States is set to reach a contentious milestone this week when it accepts its 50,000th refugee for the fiscal year ending September 30, hitting a ceiling set by President Trump in his quest to sharply curtail immigration into the country. The 50,000 figure is 41% lower than the 85,000 refugees accepted during President Barack Obama’s final year in office, and would be the lowest total in a decade. The White House said the reduction is necessary to give intelligence agencies time to review vetting procedures used to screen refugees to ensure terrorists don’t infiltrate the U.S. posing as refugees. Refugee groups counter that it is “morally wrong” for America to turn its back on those escaping war and other horrors when the world is facing its greatest migrant crisis. The door for refugees will remain partly open, however, due to the June 26 ruling by the Supreme Court that allowed a portion of Trump’s travel ban to take effect.

Federal Housing Aid Promotes Segregation

A review of federal data by The New York Times found that in the United States’ biggest metropolitan areas, low-income housing projects that use federal tax credits — the nation’s biggest source of funding for affordable housing — are disproportionately built in majority nonwhite communities. What this means, fair-housing advocates say, is that the government is essentially helping to maintain entrenched racial divides, even though federal law requires government agencies to promote integration. The nearly $8-billion-a-year tax credit program allows private developers to apply for credits they can use to help finance new housing or the rehabilitation of existing units. The program offers developers larger credits for building in poorer communities, which tend to need affordable housing the most but also have large minority populations. Efforts to place low-income housing projects in wealthier, white communities are generally voted down by town councils and local housing authorities.

Residents of Northern California Feel Subjugated to Urban Tyranny

The residents of northern California argue that their political voice is drowned out in a system that has only one state senator for every million residents. This sentiment resonates in other traditionally conservative parts of California, including large swaths of the Central Valley. California’s Great Red North, a bloc of 13 counties that voted for President Trump in November, make up more than a fifth of the state’s land mass but only 3 percent of its population, reports the New York Times. Urban California is a multiethnic dominated culture where the percentage of whites has fallen to 38 percent. California’s Great Red North is the opposite, a vast, rural, mountainous tract of pine forests with a political ethos that bears more resemblance to Texas than to Los Angeles. Two-thirds of the north is white, the population is shrinking and the region struggles economically, with median household incomes at $45,000, less than half that of San Francisco.

In May, a loose coalition of northern activists and residents, including an Indian tribe and the small northern city of Fort Jones, joined forces to file a federal lawsuit arguing that California’s legislative system is unconstitutional because the Legislature has not expanded with the population. California has only one state representative per 1 million people. By contrast, each member of the New York State Assembly represents on average 130,000 people; in New Hampshire, it’s 3,330 people for each representative. Mark Baird, one of the plaintiffs, says residents of California’s far north feel as though they are being governed by an urbanized elite. “It’s tyranny by the majority,” he said. “The majority should never be able to deprive the minority of their inalienable rights.”

America’s red-blue divide, liberal vs. conservative, rural vs. urban, will become even more prominent as the end-times move forward toward the Great Tribulation. “Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division.” (Luke 12:51, NKJV)

Global Hacks Might be Using Stolen NSA Cyberweapons

Twice in the past month, National Security Agency cyberweapons stolen from its arsenal have been turned against two very different partners of the United States — Britain and Ukraine. The N.S.A. has kept quiet, not acknowledging its role in developing the weapons, reports the New York Times. White House officials have deflected many questions, and responded to others by arguing that the focus should be on the attackers themselves, not the manufacturer of their weapons. The series of escalating attacks using N.S.A. cyberweapons have hit hospitals, a nuclear site and American businesses. Now there is growing concern that United States intelligence agencies have rushed to create digital weapons that they cannot keep safe from adversaries or disable once they fall into the wrong hands.

When will we ever learn? For many decades, we’ve experienced our own weapons turned against us by shifting alliances with various countries, rebel groups and militias. So, it’s no surprise that now we can’t hold onto our cyberweapons.

‘Obamaphone’ Program Stashes $9 Billion in Private Bank Accounts

The controversial “Obamaphone” program, which pays for cellphones for the poor, is rife with fraud, according to a new government report released Thursday that found more than a third of enrollees may not even be qualified. Known officially as the Lifeline Program, the phone giveaway has become a symbol of government waste. A new report from the Government Accountability Office says the program has stashed some $9 billion of assets in private bank accounts rather than with the federal treasury, further increasing risks and depriving taxpayers of the full benefit of that money. “A complete lack of oversight is causing this program to fail the American taxpayer — everything that could go wrong is going wrong,” said Senator Claire McCaskill, ranking Democrat on the Senate’s chief oversight committee and who is a former state auditor in Missouri. “We’re currently letting phone companies cash a government check every month with little more than the honor system to hold them accountable, and that simply can’t continue,” she said. The program, run by the Federal Communications Commission, predates President Obama, but it gained attention during his administration when recipients began to associate the free phone with other benefits he doled out to the poor.

73% Of World’s Renewable Energy Is Made by Burning Wood & Dung

The hysteria over solar and wind power as the only feasible source of future ‘renewable’ energy flies in the face of the facts. Wood and animal feces are both renewable, and account for almost 73% of the world’s renewable energy, but you never hear about planting more trees. “Of course, the Technocrats cannot control wood or feces as energy, so it is completely ignored,” notes Technocracy News. There’s no doubt that wind and solar energy capacity has grown rapidly over the last three decades. Wind power generation has grown by an average of 24.3% per year since 1990, while solar’s growth was 46.2% per year over the same period. However, despite thirty years of government subsidies and hundreds of billions in direct investments in green technologies, wind power still meets just 0.46% of the earth’s energy demands. Given current technology (and assuming 20% efficiency), we’d need to cover an area the size of Spain in solar panels to generate enough electricity to meet our global electricity demands by 2030. In fact, even if we mined all of the silver on earth’s crust, there still wouldn’t be enough to make the transition to 100% solar power. In addition, solar energy produces 300 times more toxic waste than does nuclear power. While a total of 13.6% of world energy comes from renewable sources (solar, wind, geothermal, hydro), the vast majority—72.8%—is just people in developing countries burning wood, charcoal, and dung for energy.

Persecution Watch

Although for many Muslims Ramadan is a time of self-denial and fasting, for others it is a time of jihad. In fact, it was during the month of Ramadan that Muhammed and the first Islamic army conquered Mecca in 630AD and this has led some jihadi groups, such as the Taliban, to declare jihad obligatory during Ramadan. More than 1,620 people (both Muslims and Christians) were killed during this year’s Ramadan. “It is sobering to note that behind this lies the historical teaching of sharia on jihad and apostasy – those deemed to be non-Muslims, particularly if they are viewed as having have left Islam, can be legitimately killed,” notes the Barnabas Fund.

The Christian cake-shop owner who refused to make a cake for a same-sex wedding ceremony says he and his family are receiving death threats. Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado, was thrown into the center of a heated controversy when he refused to make a cake for a same-sex couple’s wedding celebration. Phillips cited his religious beliefs as the reason for his refusal. The Colorado Human Rights Commission, as well as the Colorado Supreme Court ruled against Phillips, but just this week, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear his case this fall. While Phillips awaits a final verdict from the nation’s highest court, he says he and his family have received many death threats. One man called to say he knew exactly where the bakery was located and he knew that Phillips’ daughter worked there. He said he would murder Phillips and his family.

The alt-left is becoming increasingly violent

Economic News

The economy grew at an annual pace of 1.4% in the first three months of the year, according to the final reading Thursday from the Commerce Department. That’s similar to the first quarters of the last few years under President Barack Obama, when growth was also anemic. The reading for January through March was better than the original estimate of 0.7%. Factors like weak consumer spending and slow business investment were not as bad as first thought. Trump has promised he will get economic growth to 3%, but economists say that will be difficult. The Federal Reserve estimates growth will stay at about 2% for the next few years.

Minimum wage hikes took effect Saturday, July 1, in cities, counties and states across the country. The minimum wage goes up to $14 an hour in San Francisco on Saturday, on the way to $15 next year. In Los Angeles, it rises to between $10.50 and $12, depending on the size of the business. It will hit $15 for all businesses in 2021. Other parts of the country have approved more modest bumps. Maryland will raise the minimum wage from $8.75 to $9.25 this weekend, then up to $10.10 next year. Other locations with minimum wage increases include: Chicago: $11 an hour; Flagstaff, Arizona: $10.50 an hour; Oregon: $10.25 an hour; Washington, D.C.: $12.50 an hour. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Congress hasn’t raised it in 10 years.

Despite all the political drama in Washington, D.C., the stock market did quite well the first half of the year. The Dow and S&P 500 have gained more than 8%. The Nasdaq has soared 14%. The rally has been broad too. 23 of the Dow 30 stocks are higher and 70% of the companies in the S&P 500 are up. However, volatility has recently returned — with a vengeance. Stocks plunged Tuesday and Thursday but surged Wednesday, ending Friday with modest gains.

Global debt levels have surged to a record $217 trillion in the first quarter of the year. This is 327 percent of the world’s annual economic output (GDP), reports the Institute of International Finance. The surging debt was driven by emerging economies, which have increased borrowing by $3 trillion to $56 trillion. This amounts to 218 percent of their combined economic output, five percentage points greater year on year. Never before in human history has our world been so saturated with debt. Meanwhile, the gap between the rich and poor grows by leaps and bounds. Eight men now own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity, according to a new report published by Oxfam to mark the annual meeting of political and business leaders in Davos.

Islamic State

Iraq’s prime minister on Thursday declared an end to the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate in the Middle East as forces pushed deeper into the Iraqi city of Mosul and the Syrian city of Raqqa. Iraqi forces began a bush deeper into Mosul’s Old City, where ISIS militants were making their last stand and by afternoon they had reached an al-Nuri Mosque – the site where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his lone public appearance in July 2014, declaring a “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq. Iraqi and coalition officials said Islamic State fighters destroyed the mosque and denied the militants’ assertion that U.S.-led coalition airstrikes had destroyed it. Some 300 ISIS fighters remain holed up inside the last Mosul districts the militants hold, along with an estimated 50,000 civilians, according to the United Nations. Even after Mosul is retaken, however, Islamic State still controls significant pockets of territory in Iraq that Iraqi forces say will require many more months of fighting to liberate. The Islamic State group is striking back as Iraqi forces are on the cusp of full victory in Mosul, sending women suicide bombers to target soldiers as the battle for the country’s second-largest city nears its end. At least 15 people were killed in the latest assaults by two women suicide bombers Monday.

ISIS has seen its income drop by 80 percent in two years as it loses territory and the oil and tax revenue that comes with it, according to a study of its finances. The self-declared caliphate has seen average monthly income plunge from $81 million in the second quarter of 2015 to just $16 million in the same period this year, according to IHS Markit, a global data monitoring company. Shrinking territory is a big problem for the militant extremist group. Unlike other terror networks such as al Qaeda, ISIS regards itself as a state, running sharia courts, schools and even its own currency. It has been meeting the high cost of this apparatus by seizing assets such as oil refineries and imposing taxes and fines in the areas it controls. The findings echo a similar report published in February by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence (ICSR) at King’s College, London, which said ISIS’ income had dropped by more than more than half from an estimated $1.9 billion in 2014 to $870 million last year.

Syria

A series of car bomb explosions, including a suicide attacker who blew himself up after being surrounded by security forces, rocked the Syrian capital on Sunday, killing at least eight people and wounding a dozen more. State media said security forces intercepted the two other car bombs, suggesting they were controlled explosions. Footage from Tahreer Square in central Damascus showed the facade of one building badly damaged, and mangled vehicles parked in the small roundabout. State TV said security forces detected two car bombs at an entrance to the city, and foiled a plot to target crowded areas on first day of work after the long Muslim holiday that follows Ramadan. Such attacks have been relatively rare in Damascus, the seat of power for President Bashar Assad.

Nork Korea

North Korea claimed it successfully test-launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile Tuesday, contradicting South Korean and U.S. officials who earlier said it was an intermediate-range ballistic missile. “The success of the ICBM launch at its first trial is the final gateway to completing our nuclear force. It marked a phenomenal event in our history as we are pursuing the dual-track policy of nuclear and economic development,” a statement from the North’s leader Kim Jong Un said. Japan’s government said the missile was believed to have landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan but no damage to ships or aircraft in the area has been reported. The U.S. Pacific Command confirmed it detected a ballistic missile near the Panghyon Airfield and tracked it for 37 minutes before it landed in the Sea of Japan. President Trump said it was time for China to take decisive action against North Korea after Pyongyang’s latest ballistic missile launch, urging Beijing to “end this nonsense once and for all”.

Germany

German lawmakers approved a bill on Friday aimed at cracking down on hate speech on social networks, which critics say could have drastic consequences for free speech online. The measure approved is designed to enforce the country’s existing limits on speech, including the long-standing ban on Holocaust denial. Among other things, it would fine social networking sites up to 50 million euros ($56 million) if they persistently fail to remove illegal content within a week, including defamatory “fake news.” “Freedom of speech ends where the criminal law begins,” said Justice Minister Heiko Maas, who was the driving force behind the bill. Maas said official figures showed the number of hate crimes in Germany increased by over 300 percent in the last two years. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Google and Twitter have become a battleground for angry debates about Germany’s recent influx of more than 1 million refugees, with authorities struggling to keep up with the flood of criminal complaints.

The German parliament voted Friday to legalize same-sex marriage, joining many other western European nations. The move could spur other European countries where same-sex marriage is not recognized to follow suit. Lawmakers voted 393 for same-sex marriage and 226 against it. German Chancellor Angela Merkel voted against the measure. “For me marriage as defined by the law is the marriage of a man and a woman,” she said. But she paved the way for the vote after saying on Monday that lawmakers could take up the issue as a “question of conscience,” freeing members of her ruling Christian Democratic Party to vote in favor. There are several central and eastern European countries – including Austria, the Czech Republic and Italy – where only civil partnerships are open to gay couples, rather than marriage.

Volcanoes

An aid helicopter crashed into a mountain while conducting evacuations after an Indonesia volcano erupted. The crash killed all eight on board the helicopter. The sudden eruption of the Sileri volcano occurred Sunday while about 17 visitors were around the crater. Ten people were injured and were treated at a hospital. Sileri is the most active and dangerous among some 10 craters at Dieng Plateau. Its most recent eruption was in 2009, when it unleashed volcanic materials up to 200 meters (656 feet) high and triggered the creation of three new craters. Some 142 people were reportedly asphyxiated in 1979 when the volcano spewed gases.

Wildfires

The western wildfire season is in full swing with dozens of fires blazing in Utah, Arizona and California. 2017 is turning out to be more active than last year at this point in the season. More than 4,200 square miles have burned so far this year, which is 30 percent more than 2016’s year-to-date total. The largest fire in the U.S., the Brian Head fire in southern Utah, has destroyed 13 homes, damaged two and forced more than 1,500 people to evacuate, Inciweb reports. The fire has burned more than 91 square miles and remains 15 percent contained. Wednesday Arizona. As of Tuesday morning, 7/4, 25 large fires (over 100 acres) have burned more than 226,000 acres in nine states. New large fires were reported in Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, and Washington. Firefighters made excellent progress toward management goals over the weekend and contained 19 large fires.

Gov. Doug Ducey declared a state of emergency in Yavapai County in response to the Goodwin fire. The fire has burned more than 43 square miles of land in the Prescott National Forest and destroyed 22 structures. Officials ordered the evacuation of 1,400 residents in the central Arizona town of Mayer last Tuesday afternoon. The fire was 75% contained as of 7/3 and residents have begun returning home. The Frye fire in southeastern Arizona has burned over 70 square miles, but only one structure was destroyed. It is 45% contained. Communities on Mount Lemmon, outside Tucson, are being evacuated because of the Burro Fire, which has grown to 14,000 acres. The Brianhead fire in Utah has consumed 65,377 acres (102 sq. miles) and destroyed 26 structures. It is now 65% contained.

Weather

Four tornadoes touched down in western Maine Saturday, damaging homes and boats and downing trees in a rare severe weather day in the Pine Tree State. On average, only two tornadoes touch down in Maine each year. One pontoon boat was flipped and others were reported to have their covers or tops shredded at Sebago Lake. A number of homes were damaged and trees blown down in the Moose Pond area, west of Bridgton, Maine. The NWS rated this an EF1 tornado, with winds up to 100 mph. Over the southeast portion of Highland Lake, a tornado moved onshore, snapping and uprooting several large trees, some of which fell onto structures and vehicles, and hitting campground hard.

There were 26 reports of tornadoes last Wednesday in four states as severe weather struck the Midwest. The storms caused at least two injuries and damage to dozens of homes and farm buildings. Trees were uprooted and snapped and several homes sustained roof damage. A camper was rolled into a pond and a trailer was flipped. In Prairieburg, Iowa, a confirmed EF2 tornado knocked out power for much of the town. It also heavily damaged a grain elevator, knocked down power lines and damaged several farm buildings.